Reading Partners

July 2023 - Current

Summary

Funders: U.S. Department of Education, Arnold Ventures

Literacy tutoring is one of the most effective strategies for improving student literacy achievement. However, it can be difficult to scale and one approach to increase access is to provide virtual tutoring. While evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of in-person tutoring is strong, evidence for virtual tutoring is limited. YPL is partnering with MDRC and Reading Partners, a national organization that uses volunteer tutors to provide literacy tutoring to elementary students, to evaluate the effects of two delivery models of their tutoring program. Our evaluation assesses the impact of an in-person tutoring model (RPT), and a virtual, synchronous model called Reading Partners Connects (RPCx) that utilize the same curriculum. Preliminary findings show positive effects of both the RPT and RPCx programs for first and second graders, while effects for third and fourth graders are more mixed.